Last week 40 men and women gathered in the upstairs sanctuary of the YWCA of Central Alabama downtown as the organization wrapped up its summer training for a new crop of AmeriCorps workers.
It was a room full of people receiving financial advice on how to live on a modest stipend while helping communities whose members sometimes make even less.
“It’s not about the money,” Jaleah Morris, 21, said. “At first I thought it might be an issue, but after I got started last year I realized that the work I did was worth much more than money.”
Morris, who graduated from the University of South Alabama with a degree in psychology, is entering her second year with the AmeriCorps program, a partner with the YWCA which is focused on “building communities, bettering lives,” not just in Birmingham but throughout the country.
She describes herself as an introvert, but Morris said that when it comes to helping others, she really feels that she opens up.
Originally from Birmingham, Morris said that when she graduated college in December a friend recommended that she look into AmeriCorps as a way to give back to the community.
“My department here is social justice. I already did a year with that department. We do programs that are to make Birmingham more inclusive,” Morris explained. “We focus on different issues including race, immigration and sexuality. We typically deal with younger people and help them through some of these complex situations.”
AmeriCorps began in 1994, and since then, “more than 900,000 AmeriCorps members have contributed more that one billion hours of service to their country,” according to a YWCA press release.
Angela Moore, assistant director of AmeriCorps, said that despite widespread belief, the AmeriCorps program is not a volunteer-based program. Workers are given a monthly stipend of $1,000. But, as Morris said, it isn’t about the money, Moore continued.
“This is a full-time job. A lot of what we do here focuses on providing services for the homeless and children who are homeless. That’s a big issue that nobody really likes to talk about,” Moore said.
Aside from homelessness, AmeriCorps’ focus is broad. Some members are teachers in the child development center, others help with the afterschool enrichment programs. The idea is to holistically address the issues that impact the community, from social issues to environmental concerns.
In the arched corridor that serves as the chapel at the YWCA building, the new members begin to shuffle out of the door as the budgeting seminar comes to a close. Moore seems pleased with how the training has gone thus far. “I’m just ready for everyone to get out there and get to work,” Moore said.
On the elevator door at the YWCA there is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that says, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” For the new members, this quote seems fitting.
Moore said that last year she wasn’t sure if she would be able to do a full year’s worth of service. After she got started, though, and began working with people, the issues surrounding the money, or lack thereof, disappeared.
“I just want to be able to make an impact in the city I’m from,” Moore said, adding she is getting a graduate degree while she is working for AmeriCorps during the course of the next year. “I want to make a difference in someone’s life. That is worth more than any sum of money.”